Many building structures, such as foundations, floors, ceilings, walls, and the like, include a concrete slab having conduit, pipes and the like embedded therein. Form boards are typically used to provide the desired shape of concrete slab. Concrete is poured into the form, and once set, the form is removed to reveal a concrete slab with conduit, pipes and the like embedded therein. It is very important that the conduits and/or pipes do not move during the concrete pouring operation so that the conduit or pipes remain in a known location according to the building plans.
For this reason, various apparatus and methods are employed in the construction art to support a desired configuration of pipes until the concrete (e.g. for a foundation) is poured and has had sufficient time to set or harden, thereby saving space by embedding the pipe work and the like in the concrete. Traditionally, for example, the outside bases of conduit spacers are fixed to the ground with, for example, rebar, with the remaining pieces of conduit not being attached. This allows the sections attached to the base section to move during concrete pouring which disassembles the horizontal connections.
For example, lengths of rebar are driven into the ground and sections of pipe are taped to the rebar to provide structural support to the conduit configuration. Because the rebar and tape are typically removed prior to the pouring of concrete so that footers may be dug, the conduits or pipes will often sag prior to the concrete pour operation, and unless repositioned will result in a plumbing or wiring configuration that is permanently crooked when later embedded in cured concrete.
Sagging or displacement often results in a poor pipe work configuration that causes pipe leaks, water pressure problems, and drainage issues all of which are best avoided by maintaining proper support and alignment of pipe work and the like both prior to and during a concrete pour operation. Sagging or displacement during pour often results in a poor or undesirable electrical conduit configuration, with conduit located incorrectly relative to building specifications. Other problems may result from displaced, incorrectly located, or sagging conduits and pipes.